The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates in four segments: Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services. The company also constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy facilities and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, wholesale gas services, and gas pipeline investments operations. It owns and/or operates 33 hydroelectric generating stations, 26 fossil fuel generating stations, 3 nuclear generating stations, 13 combined cycle/cogeneration stations, 40 solar facilities, 9 wind facilities, and 1 biomass facility; and constructs, operates, and maintains 75,200 miles of natural gas pipelines and 14 storage facilities with total capacity of 158 Bcf to provide natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company serves approximately 9 million electric and gas utility customers. It also provides products and services in the areas of distributed generation infrastructure, energy efficiency, and utility infrastructure. In addition, the company offers digital wireless communications services with various communication options, including push to talk, cellular service, text messaging, wireless Internet access, and wireless data. The Southern Company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

1.8 Community Rank

Outperform Votes

Underperform Votes

Community Sentiment

Southern has received 63.78% “underperform” votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Southern and other stocks. Vote “Outperform” if you believe SO will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote “Underperform” if you believe SO will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

2.0 Company Ownership

In the past three months, Southern insiders have sold just slightly more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $191,520.00 in company stock and sold $212,120.00 in company stock. It is common for insiders to sell company stock at intervals simply to diversify their holdings.

Do Wall Street analysts recommend investors buy shares of Southern?

15 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Southern in the last year. There are currently 3 sell ratings, 9 hold ratings and 3 buy ratings for the stock, resulting in a consensus recommendation of "Hold." View analyst ratings for Southern.

When is Southern's next earnings date?

How were Southern's earnings last quarter?

Southern Co (NYSE:SO) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April, 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks' consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.07. The utilities provider earned $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.45 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.83% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. View Southern's earnings history.

How often does Southern pay dividends? What is the dividend yield for Southern?

Southern declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share on Monday, June 8th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. View Southern's dividend history.

What price target have analysts set for SO?

15 brokers have issued twelve-month price objectives for Southern's stock. Their forecasts range from $52.00 to $73.00. On average, they expect Southern's stock price to reach $62.11 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 6.3% from the stock's current price. View analysts' price targets for Southern.

Has Southern been receiving favorable news coverage?

News stories about SO stock have trended somewhat positive recently, according to InfoTrie. The research group rates the sentiment of press coverage by analyzing more than six thousand news and blog sources. The firm ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative five to positive five, with scores closest to five being the most favorable. Southern earned a news sentiment score of 1.0 on InfoTrie's scale. They also assigned news articles about the utilities provider a news buzz of 10.0 out of 10, indicating that recent press coverage is extremely likely to have an effect on the stock's share price in the immediate future. View the latest news aboutSouthern.

Which institutional investors are selling Southern stock?

SO stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Zimmer Partners LP, BlackRock Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Invesco Ltd., Bank of New York Mellon Corp, First Trust Advisors LP, APG Asset Management N.V., and Wellington Management Group LLP. Company insiders that have sold Southern company stock in the last year include Ann P Daiss, Anthony L Wilson, Christopher C Womack, James Y Kerr II, Mark A Crosswhite, Stan W Connally, Stephen E Kuczynski, Thomas A Fanning, and William P Bowers. View insider buying and selling activity for Southern.

Which institutional investors are buying Southern stock?

SO stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Pictet Asset Management Ltd., Prudential PLC, APG Asset Management N.V., Swiss National Bank, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA, Nuveen Asset Management LLC, Advisor Group Holdings Inc., and State Street Corp. Company insiders that have bought Southern stock in the last two years include Anthony F Earley Jr, Ernest J Moniz, and Henry A Clark III. View insider buying and selling activity for Southern.

How do I buy shares of Southern?

Shares of SO can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.

What is Southern's stock price today?

One share of SO stock can currently be purchased for approximately $58.45.

How big of a company is Southern?

Southern has a market capitalization of $61.78 billion and generates $21.42 billion in revenue each year. The utilities provider earns $4.75 billion in net income (profit) each year or $3.11 on an earnings per share basis. Southern employs 27,943 workers across the globe.